Opinion pieces on Idaho politics, local governance, and the values that matter to Bingham County.
There is a growing movement within the Idaho Republican Party to completely abolish property taxes, rather than simply reform or reduce them. This summer, Scott Herndon championed the effort to add property-tax abolition to the Idaho Republican Party platform. Herndon is also listed by the party as having affirmed the 2026 platform without exceptions. I understand the argument that if government can ultimately take your property for failure to pay taxes on it, there is reason to question how completely you truly own that property. It is an emotionally compelling argument, particularly for conservatives who place a high value on private property rights. The historical tension, however, is that Herndon and many legislators aligned with the Freedom Caucus describe their approach in constitutional and founding-era terms. If the case for abolishing property taxes is going to be grounded in the principles of America's founding, then the history of taxation at the founding deserves a closer look.
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Lately I've been feeling like a lot of politically homeless Idaho conservatives.
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As time goes by the more convinced I become that many of the political disagreements happening inside the Republican Party today are not really disagreements about policy first. They are disagreements about first principles. About what conservatism actually means. About what government is for. About whether Republicans still fundamentally believe in the cause of liberty itself.
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I've been thinking a lot about what Idaho conservatism used to mean.
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What if the Founders had to worry about a scorecard?
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